this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025

467 points (99.0% liked)

Greentext

6869 readers

1468 users here now

This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

Anon is often crazy.
Anon is often depressed.
Anon frequently shares thoughts that are immature, offensive, or incomprehensible.

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works

467

Anon looks into cults (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 day ago by Early_To_Risa@sh.itjust.works to c/greentext@sh.itjust.works

53 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Aggravationstation@feddit.uk 44 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (4 children)

The guy pictured, Marshall Applewhite, wanted to fuck dudes and was ashamed of it so he got castrated. Then, after his best friend and cult's co-founder died, he convinced a bunch of people that the world was going to end and the only way they could survive was by committing suicide so that their souls could leave on an alien spaceship hidden behind Hale-Bopp comet as it passed by. Nobody can know what he was thinking but I'd wager he was just depressed and didn't want to die alone.

EDIT: Originally said it was Hailey's comet.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 hour ago

I think an array of mental illness and drug abuse is more likely.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Fun fact, their website is still up https://www.heavensgate.com/

[–] Aggravationstation@feddit.uk 4 points 3 hours ago

Ah yes. Just seen it was the Hale-Bopp comet, not Hailey's.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

so internalized homophobia is what got them all killed

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 6 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

In November 1996, amateur astronomer Chuck Shramek of Houston, Texas, took a CCD image of the comet which showed a fuzzy, slightly elongated object nearby. His computer sky-viewing program did not identify the star, so Shramek called the Art Bell radio program Coast to Coast AM to announce that he had discovered a "Saturn-like object" following Hale–Bopp. UFO enthusiasts, such as remote viewing proponent and Emory University political science professor Courtney Brown, soon concluded that there was an alien spacecraft following the comet. Several astronomers, including Alan Hale, stated that the object was simply the 8.5-magnitude star SAO141894. They noted that the star did not appear on Shramek's computer program because the user preferences were set incorrectly. Art Bell claimed to have obtained an image of the object from an anonymous astrophysicist who was about to confirm its discovery. However, astronomers Olivier Hainaut and David Tholen of the University of Hawaii stated that the alleged photo was an altered copy of one of their own comet images.

They died over someone's computer settings being misconfigured 💀

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 12 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

I'm more interested in wtf everyone else was thinking.

[–] wombledomble@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 minutes ago

Iirc, a lot of them were forced to drink it.

[–] And009@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 7 hours ago

Respect elders, follow till death.

[–] hypeerror@sh.itjust.works 57 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Scientology somehow managed to reach cult "escape velocity" and survive the death of its leader.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

and mormonism

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 46 minutes ago (1 children)

And Christianity.

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 points 39 minutes ago (1 children)

Christianity as a religion generally started after the death and ascension of Christ.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 1 points 3 minutes ago

Still a cult (or several) or why shouldn't it be? I don't know the exact definitions.

[–] Teppichbrand@feddit.org 17 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (2 children)

Of you haven't watched Wild wild Country and/or Raël yet you definitely should. It's incredible.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 45 minutes ago

Dude, Wild Wild Country is insane.

I watched it when it came out, knowing nothing about it besides from "cult documentary". Holy shit lol

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago

The Realeans are a fascinating bunch.

[–] halvar@lemy.lol 30 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Oh no this can't be true this would exclude major religions which are cults as well

[–] Taniwha420@lemmy.world 10 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Ehh ... The definition of a cult includes things like isolating you from your friends and family, and having secret teachings that only the initiated have access to. I.e. the Freemasons: secret teachings, but does not try to isolate you from friends and family. Secret society, but not a cult. Religion is a cult in terms of the original sense of the word: organised worship, but not a cult as we think of them. Though some subsets definitely do get pretty culty. Don't know about these days, but when I was at university the Campus Crusaders for Christ definitely had the love-bombing and isolating you from your friends and family going on.

[–] halvar@lemy.lol 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

As a Catholic by baptism and family tradition I do sometimes find Christianity a bit outdated, but I still think it's capable of renewing.

I don't really have time to go to church nowadays but for example when I last got to go at Easter the priest was a Russophile of all things (this happened in Hungary) and he very much made that part of his speech. Something about the Russians doing The Good Lord's job in Ukraine, just as they did back in WWII. I'm not even kidding.

Then again when I got to regularly go to the youth service a few years back it was basically just singing to the guitar band and looking at the Bible which was really fun, the priest was very educated and seemingly didn't have any hateful opinions, which is sadly more than you can expect from most of the clergy nowadays.

So yes TL;DR Christianity can be very fun and inclusive without acting like a cult, but the people who make up the Christian community come in all shapes and forms and sadly most of them aren't people you would want to spend much time with, and that includes some of the priests as well whose job it should be to make people more friendly in my opinion.

Well at least these are my experiences but I haven't ever been an integral part of any Christian Club or something like that.

[–] LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Checks out with mine. There are a bunch of nice people who genuinely try to spread the whole love thy neighbour thing, and there are a bunch of weirdos who like being part of the "better" group.

[–] rovingnothing29@lemmy.world 24 points 22 hours ago

Excuse you, in a religion the person at the top is dead.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 121 points 1 day ago (4 children)

There is one cult I would welcome the ritual suicide of.

They’re just about at 10 years now.

[–] RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I had to think for a while.

[–] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 44 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You had a thought? Congrats, you're not in the cult

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That's just what a woke gay commie deep state libtard would say!

[–] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 1 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

This guy has a Kool aid stain on his upper lip

Gimme dat gay space communism

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 1 points 12 hours ago

Don't besmirch the Kool aid, it was actually flavoraid. Motherfuckers couldn't even fork out for the name brand had to go with the knockoff.

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] don@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’m surprised by how quickly I went from “who tf could they be referring to?” to “Oh, well yeah, that would make a great deal of sense.”

[–] IndiBrony@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

The problems with that cult is that it would suicide the rest of us along with them

[–] Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 1 day ago

They did nearly have a Fringe of them do it a few years back

load more comments (1 replies)

[–] j4k3@lemmy.world 52 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Humans are super susceptible to charisma, tribalism, and dogma

[+] phuntis@sopuli.xyz -12 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

it's really just americans (and maybe places heavily influenced by america ideologically I dunno) they really aren't a major problem elsewhere noone really joins cults in the uk

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 44 minutes ago* (last edited 43 minutes ago)

Japan has a cult that carried out (I believe) the worst terrorist attack their country has ever seen

[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 10 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

China had a serious problem with cults, while Japan and Korea are heavily influenced by America, I don't see that reflected in their cults.

Its not like the UK is less influenced by America than places were the average person has seen like 1 American TV show or movie.

[–] phuntis@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 hour ago

I didn't mean tv wise I meant places america occupied and are now hyper hyper capitalist like america

[–] Mesophar@pawb.social 1 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

Isn't/wasn't the Jesus Army cult UK based? Like, the USA just has a LOT more people than the UK does, it makes sense for there to be more people that fall into fringe groups. But the UK certainly isn't immune to it.

[–] phuntis@sopuli.xyz 3 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

I've never heard of them but it's always annoying whenever someone says something is worse in america americans will go "hurr durr america bigger so more thing happen" as though the rest of the world isn't aware of per capita measurements it's not just numerically a way higher percentage of americans join cults a lot of americans are predisposed to extreme religious views and searching for solutions to societal problems in religion like here that just really isn't normal here most people aren't that religious and it's considered really weird and abnormal for someone to think a rapture or whatever will be the solution to a societal problem people would just laugh at you cults don't get taken seriously here they're funny

[–] Mesophar@pawb.social 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

And for the majority of Americans cults just get laughed at as well. At least until it started leaking into politics, but that is being seen in many other countries now, too.

A lot of Americans are doing horrible things, and there definitely is something about the culture here that affects that, as you don't see the mass shooting and school shooting issues in other parts of the world as strongly. But coming at this saying that it doesn't really happen outside of the USA and that it doesn't happen in the UK is just ridiculous. If you make a statement that infers you don't understand per capital, then you'll get a reply making that rebuttal.

[–] phuntis@sopuli.xyz 0 points 8 hours ago

I literally did not say they don't happen I said they're not a major problem they're really rare and don't get very big here

[–] frostphunk@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

Poor education, lack of a culture of walking/socializing/eating in cities (overall different city life) and the isolation of suburban car life encouraging engagement only in your preferred echo chambers /// living in the middle of nowhere seems like an amazing recipe to make many Americans predisposed to cults way more than many other countries/world

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 30 points 1 day ago

I saw an analysis of cults that have turned into religions - that is, outlived their founder. There's some very specific criteria that need to be met in order for it to endure, must critically it needs a charismatic reformer/organizer to take over when the founder dies.

[–] breecher@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Lots of cults, probably most of them, exists far beyond the ten years range unfortunately.

[–] IndiBrony@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, some of the biggest ones have existed for about 2000 years now or a bit longer

[–] omxxi@feddit.org 8 points 1 day ago

right, and they don't fuck your wives, but your kids

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago

The largest cults last a long time. Most cults consist of 2 people, a leader and a follower, and fizzle out when the acid wears off.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 28 points 1 day ago

If you last longer you become a cultural heritage issue and are delegated away from cult status

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago

I would be a fool if I gave all my money to a charlatan, and I'm no fool. That proves that Jesus IV is the real deal.

load more comments